I set today's Telegraph cryptic www.telegraph.co.uk/puzzles/ First tough problem, zero Fahrenheit inside immersion heater (7,2,4) Gather leaves together with me (5,4)

In case any cruciverbaliserators here haven't seen the 2008 BBC Timeshift documentary on cryptics, it's here on Vimeo: vimeo.com/297517318

A RECIPE FOR EVIL (Palindrome) Evil: Oats. Apple. Kiwi. Kelp. Pasta. Olive.

New to my Etsy shop, baseball cap for crossword setters. Ideal for Sloggers & Betters events, or if you just want to be left alone. [Only 3000 in stock]

I set today’s Daily Telegraph Toughie crossword telegraph.co.uk/puzzles/ Star, Moon and Newton in Brian Cox show (10) Simple Simon was so alone (7)

I set today’s Daily Telegraph cryptic crossword www.telegraph.co.uk/puzzles/ Hand out punishment? (4,2,3,5) Road crew’s machines restore small unstable … (5-7) … crack with tar for free (7) Review blog here: bigdave44.com/2025/09/10/d...

🚨 UK PRE-ORDERS ARE OPEN 🚨 Roll up roll up - assure yourself a copy of Unch now! Visit: unchcrosswords.com#shop

I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords.

Debut novel 7 years ago. Two-initial pseudonym to emulate P.D. James and now no one believes I wrote it. #Middlemarch #Cats

I set today’s Sunday Telegraph prize Toughie www.telegraph.co.uk/puzzles/ Superior dentures should not have a rattle (5) Oath that might be taken by editor (9) Lose it when a grandmother’s stuck under upturned Portaloo? (2,7)

Reminds me that Peggy Mitchell in EastEnders once shouted 'Get out of my pub, you're barred!' to a bloke wearing a Mephisto T-shirt. #Unfollow

I set today’s Daily Telegraph cryptic crossword www.telegraph.co.uk/puzzles/ Article about Lineker ultimately backing female football pundit (7) Bent copper failed to get top spot (5,2,5) Producer of ‘Hairspray’ under pressure? (7)

Tractor the Future Get Carthorse The Manure Fell to Earth

Magazine Scottish psychiatrist wanted in institution (4)

😁

BATTLE OF BOSWORTH FIELD (Palindrome) Drowsy brawl. A York royal. War by sword. #Bosworth #OTD

Prize* deadline now past, the solutions and explanations are here: bigdave44.com/2025/08/20/s... * Lunch with the setter. Winner pays all food and travel costs.

Walked the hound this evening across what used to be a forest of larches, many of which came down in Storms Darragh and Éowyn, and which have now been harvested. The area will be replanted with a mixture of native broad-leaved trees this winter. [Attention stalkers: my house is in the photo]

Crossword hive mind - is it unforgivable to have 3 hidden clues in one puzzle? (None of which are reversals.)

That's half an hour I'll never get back.

" ... Sessions."

Nightlife's a boozy zoo: Base filth. Gin. #palindrome

I set today’s Daily Telegraph cryptic crossword www.telegraph.co.uk/puzzles/ Film streaming on Apple, 'The Feast' (6,2,3,4) Stirring up soy, chef briefly making this? (4,4) Returning from injury, fit? Certainly better (7)

I set today’s Sunday Telegraph prize Toughie www.telegraph.co.uk/puzzles/ Graves will probably be dug by this aficionado (9) Learner driver stuck in pit, getting AA (5) Fragile ego principally smitten with Mars trips (8) Price departs, but this keeps The Animals going (4) #OneForTheTeenagers

Join me for an afternoon learning how to solve cryptic crossword puzzles in the fine city of Norwich on the 7th September. Tickets here: thehollowaynorwich.com/events/RVb6g... Shares and word of mouth appreciated!

I set today’s Daily Telegraph Toughie crossword www.telegraph.co.uk/puzzles/ ‘Absolutely Fabulous’ and another sitcom ... ‘Not Going Out’? (4,4,7) Hitherto elegant, posing naked (2,3,10) In general, US nincompoops turning xenophobic? (7)

🥁🥁🥁 Coming Soon — a brand new cryptic crossword magazine we’re calling Unch. Interested? Sign up for email updates at unchcrosswords.com to find out more. And we’d love it if you could repost this to your own followers 👍

Congratulations to the vein in Joey Barton's temple for another standout performance. #Lionesses

Environmentally friendly solutions in a photo from a Liverpool Echo article. Grid is 14x14 to save paper. Good luck with 5, 6 and 7 down. #NotACrossword

I set today's Daily Telegraph cryptic crossword www.telegraph.co.uk/puzzles/ What perhaps ma's saying after swearing (6,2,6) Fool with lies and chatter before match (8) Something to toast the Trotters after retirement? (3-5,6)

Me looking at Bluesky trending.

I set today's Daily Telegraph cryptic crossword www.telegraph.co.uk/puzzles/ Vehicle with many passengers heading for first class? (6,3) Perhaps chat and propose a place to eat in the garden (4,5) Might treatment here make you feel hot? Doctor unable to say (6,5)

I set the prize Toughie cryptic in today’s Sunday Telegraph www.telegraph.co.uk/puzzles/ Very hip, playing Steely Dan’s latest cuts (9) College closed between terms for police investigation (4) Produce another cake without topping, a reason for moving mince pies to the side (6)

I set today’s Daily Telegraph cryptic www.telegraph.co.uk/puzzles/ Unpleasant imp splutters milk in churns (15) Lecture we hear from drunk tank (7) Hum song and dance (5)

Another Anglesey pic from last week – elusive red squirrel in Newborough Forest. A lot of the forest and beach had restricted access and security patrols because Season 3 of House of the Dragon is currently being filmed there. Squirrels outnumbered by Matt Smith fangirls.

Anglesey, last week. The hound scents food on an offshore yacht and she's off!

I set today's Daily Telegraph back-page cryptic www.telegraph.co.uk/puzzles/ Delayed at traffic lights maybe, point and play (7,3,5) What cleaning a lamp might do for maverick (4,6) Caught changing in lavatory, should she have foreseen that? (11)

I set today's prize Toughie crossword in the Sunday Telegraph telegraph.co.uk/puzzles/ Detective writer nobody need say film director wanted back (7,7) Pope Leo, essentially good man, most civilised (8) Underwear, pair seen in the middle of dressing (6)

I set today’s Daily Telegraph Toughie telegraph.co.uk/puzzles/ Care about rubbish bags, workers close to walkout (9) Kerouac book 'On the Road' here? (6,7) E.g. TNT not formerly T? (7)

Moon rising over the hills of West Wales an hour ago. Not a great photo but the colour is real.

I set today’s Daily Telegraph crossword www.telegraph.co.uk/puzzles/ Colleague of Doctor Foster? (5) When speaking, be patient greeting Dieter … (6-7) … German chap at home, beginning to grill small fish (8)

I set today’s Daily Telegraph crossword www.telegraph.co.uk/puzzles/ Doctor sneering at some of your "five-a-day"? (10) Increase in tempo that's apparent in Scarlatti? (6,4) Buying meat on the way out? (7,3,4) ⚠️ Includes more than 20 clues with no question marks

I set today's Daily Telegraph cryptic crossword: www.telegraph.co.uk/puzzles/ I rang The Lancet about cure for cold (7,7) Potty from lavatory promptly emptied (5) Might I be shaken after a fall? (8) ___________________________________________ Do I swerve these on the blog? (5,7) 😐

ANTIKYTHERA MECHANISM (Anagrammed Lines) Mythic Athenian makers match a marine sky in the Antikythera Mechanism. In the sea, I mark my chant. I chart the main sky; name a heart’s kinematic hymn. Antikythera Mechanism: Animate, rhythmic snake. Stray ankh. Time machine.

I set today’s prize Toughie in the Daily Telegraph: www.telegraph.co.uk/puzzles/ Evian’s my unfinished still drink (6) Operative checking trap’s set? (6,7) In which dish is out, presumably (6,5)

I set today's Daily Telegraph Toughie www.telegraph.co.uk/puzzles/ Might Cook use this singer with Dud? (5,5) No Ginger Creams? Ridiculously alarmist! (13) Some deplore Leicester being on the rocks (7)* * with apologies to my old LCFC-supporting work colleagues

I set today's Daily Telegraph cryptic crossword: www.telegraph.co.uk/puzzles/ Sole coated with crumbs is ready (5) Only a small population here in work (8) Tar strengthened with vegetable matter (6,3,6)

Two weeks ago I submitted a Toughie puzzle to the Telegraph that involved "Pope Leo" in one of the clues. 😇 Publication is 6 weeks away, by which time everyone else will have done one. 🧐

I set today’s Daily Telegraph cryptic crossword www.telegraph.co.uk/puzzles/ Cats chasing off crabs (10) Myna emptied its great snapping beak (10) Bishop died chopping trees? Nonsense (10)

I set today’s Daily Telegraph cryptic crossword www.telegraph.co.uk/puzzles/ Film assured, but novel flawed (6,9) Hand round good-looking person not allowed! (4,3) Incognito, get heroin, not completely stable (8)